The Lack of a Garden: What to Grow this Summer

HWY 176

Looks like a great place to garden no? There are 3 reasons I am not gardening this summer despite having a success last year

1. New environment 

2. Water

3.  My gardening expert is 2.5 hours away. 

Last year's sunflowers with squash in background

Since moving I have found that we are only 2.5 hours to the east but the conditions seem to be a bit more extreme. I'm used to the lack of rain, but the wind and the heat seem to be more intense. And the sun!  We are at the same elevation but the sun seems is be much more intense. I'm going to give it one summer before investing to much money into plants that will fail. I will also use the summer to map out where the best position for the pots will be. I'll need protection from the wind but need varying levels of sun. Something out of reach from little hands would also be appreciated.

New Mexico Sun

To Few Rainy Days

Water is hot topic here. We live in the middle of a desert that is having extreme drought conditions (along with wildfires). Top that off with exceptional population growth and there just isn't enough water. Our house doesn't have a drip system which is perfect for water conservation. We also don't have our own well which means we are subject to strict watering rules. Here in Texas neighbors are encouraged to report any abuse witnessed. There are hefty fines ("Any violation may result in a fine up to $500.") and there are surcharges attached to your water bill depending on your usage.  Our grass is a priority this year due to the kids wanting to dig up all the dirt in the back yard and dump it on the patio.

Sand/Dirt Patio Dump

I am also a very bad gardener. Had I not had help last year I'm pretty sure everything would have been under watered/over watered and died. Thanks to technology I have a camera phone and email but my expert just had a baby so I think she will be busy for the next few months.

My Role Model 

But I am not giving up completely on my budding green thumb. I have tried to do herbs in the past and the only thing that worked was rosemary and I cheated and got a baby plant from the nursery  It now has grown into a nice large plant and could be moved out of the pot into the ground since rosemary does well in dry climates. So here is what I will try:

1. Dill. I love fresh dill
2. Basil
3. Parsley
4. One cherry tomato plant (Green Beans can eat her weight in cherry tomatoes)

All that is left from last summer. Geranium, Lantana, and Rosemary.

My plan of attack to buy the herbs as baby plants and grow them inside the kitchen or on a stand on the patio. I'll also set the tomato plant behind our shed where it gets morning light and wind protection. I'll just have to use a watering can but I think I can commit to a few herbs and one tomato plant. I'll get a start after the May wedding of MJ and Esq. Can't leave my plants for 2 weeks!

Whole30 Day 14 and a Tarter Sauce Disaster

As far as Mondays go, this was a pretty good one. We all got out of the house and had a fun day and the cravings to cheat were pretty low. Green Beans and Turtles are starting to slowly change their eating habits too. They both were starving by the time I started to cook dinner and they were more than happy to sit there with me munching on raw bell peppers and tomato slices.

Breakfast-Eggs with Salsa and Coffee
Lunch-Leftover Hamburgers
Dinner-Lemon Dill Cod with Sauteed Squash, Bell Peppers and Onions

Leftover red pepper and Green Beans' baby doll in the kitchen

 Lemon Dill Cod

Cod 

EVOO 

Dill, Garlic Powder, Salt and Pepper

Fresh Lemon Juice

Put the Cod on a lined baking sheet, drizzle some EVOO over it, dust with dill, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Cook at 400 degrees for 22 minutes and then squeeze a lemon over the cod. You could also slice the lemon and cook on top of the cod, I just didn't want such a strong flavor but its good if you are in the mood for it.

 

Ready to go in the oven

Before I got the Cod ready to go, I diced up some onion and got it cooking in a pan. I then diced up yellow squash, zucchini and green and red bell peppers. After I put the Cod in the oven I added the squash and bell peppers in to the pan and cooked over medium heat until it was tender. It took about 20 minutes since the pan was so full so it all worked out perfectly. 

Finished Product

The Whole30 page on Facebook had posted a picture with Whole30 tarter sauce on it. Well I thought I would give it a try before I realized I didn't have half of the ingredients. So I then went on to try to make a dill sauce but it was an epic fail. It was so nasty and I didn't want to waste more spices by trying to fix it. Next time I will be better prepared and hopefully it will turn out better. But a nice creamy sauce on top of this cod would have been very satisfying and the extra fat would have made it more filling too. 

Fail

Whole30 Day 13

Sundays are always a little crazy trying to get everyone ready to go to church. We still choose sleep over breakfast but by the time we come home we are starving. Thankfully we had steak leftovers today and I just made a big batch of eggs with tomatoes. We finished the day out with some hamburger wraps.

Breakfast-Skip
Lunch-Eggs with tomatoes and leftover steak
Dinner-Hamburger Wraps

Husband sporting his new NASCAR shirt 

Whole30 Day 11 & 12, Beef and Broccoli, Strawberry Fields Cafe and Meat Market Steals

The post root canal haze is starting to lift and life is looking a little more bright. Or it could be because I ate 3 square meals today including two with red meat.

Day 11
Breakfast-I think it got skipped by both Whole30 parties.
Lunch-Husband had leftover wings and an orange. I had water and lortab.
Dinner-Beef and Broccoli with Onions


Day 12
Breakfast-Strawberry Banana Smoothies
Lunch-Leftover Beef and Broccoli
Dinner- Sirloin Steak with Sweet Potatoes

The dinner of Beef and Broccoli came around by accident. I had some cubed steak I was going to cook up with onions. I gave Husband a choice of frozen green beans or frozen broccoli and he wisely chose broccoli.

Beef and Broccoli

Cubed Steak

1 yellow Onion

1 bag of frozen Broccoli

Salt, Pepper and Garlic Powder 

I had a 3 pack of big cubed steak. Probably about 1 lb.  I set them out on the counter for 45 minutes before I was going to cook them. I rubbed them with sea salt and let them sit. After sitting for 45 minutes I sliced them into thin strips, sprinkled black pepper and garlic powder, and fried them in coconut oil. I also cooked an onion in another pan. It was soft but not caramelized throughout.  I cleaned out the cubed steak pan and put in a tablespoon of Ghee and tossed the steak and onions together. I then warmed up the broccoli and added a tablespoon of Ghee and tossed. I served separately but next time I will toss it altogether in the pan since it ended up that way on the plate. 

Strawberry Fields Cafe

 This is the 2nd healthfood store I go to in town. It has an organic cafe attached to it which serves really good food. They also have Whole30 compliant smoothies which are made of fruit, ice and 100% fruit juice. Now I know it isn't the best idea to eat an 8oz cup of concentrated fruit, but I figured the lack of intake from the tooth issues warranted at least one smoothie. I also had to share with two little girls so I'm not sure how much I actually got to ingest. It was enough to give me an energy boost to make it to the farmers market and Albertsons. 

Downtown Farmer's Market

(not today, but wanted to show set up)

I've been wanting to get down here the past few weekends so I was really excited to go today. As you can imagine there isn't a lot of produce for sale yet but I wanted to get the lay of the land. The best surprise of the day was there was a local rancher who sells grass fed beef  at market store prices! I didn't plan to buy anything but now that I know they are there, I plan on stopping back by. There are also green house tomatoes that looked great. I'm excited for the summer produce to start rolling over. If you are close to the Pecos Valley you must try Pecos Watermelons and Cantaloupe  They are the most amazing fruit. I really can't wait for those to come in towards the end of the summer.  

I do not normally like to shop at Albertsons but I had two girls who were about to lose patience with me shopping. HEB was going to take to long so we all ran in to grab a few things (EGGS!). We hit up the meat aisle and they were having a huge sale. I got 

1. Two family sized chicken leg packages on sale with an added in $3 dollars off. Making what was over $7, only $3. 
2. Two packs of pork chops, 50% off
3. Two packs of sirloin steaks, 50% off
4. 6 lbs hamburger $6 off

Overall we saved $43. Not to bad for an unplanned grocery store trip

Whole30 Day 10 and a Root Canal

I got a root canal! Half of one technically.  Normally someone might not be happy about that but after all the pain I have had I was more than happy to get rid of the nerve in that tooth. So yay! Hopefully I'll be back to eating raw veggies and meat in no time!

Breakfast-Apple but most of it was stolen by Trutles and Green Beans
Lunch-Leftover Quiche with Salsa on top
Dinner-Buffalo Wings and sauteed asparagus

Now I only cooked the wings, but Husband said they were really good. I forgot to take a picture because I was laying on the couch trying not to think about the pain in my mouth. We all know what wings look like so just use your imagination.

Ingredients: Aged Cayenne Red Peppers, Distilled Vinegar, Water, Salt, Natural Flavor and Garlic Powder

Buffalo Wing Sauce

1 cup Frank's Red Hot

2 T Coconut Oil

Mix in a sauce pan and simmer until it thickens (about the length it takes the chicken to cook). Pour Over Baked Chicken. 

I know I have put the recipe for this chicken before. So let me cut and paste for you just to make it easy. 

Chicken Drumstick Non-Spicy Rub

1 part Garlic powder (or crushed garlic)

1 part Onion Powder

1/2 part Salt

1 part Pepper

1-2 part Italian Seasoning (optional)

I rubbed the wings all over with EVOO and then tossed the seasoning on. I left off the Italian seasoning since I was doing wings. Baked at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. They turned out really nice and crispy. If you have a roasting pan or a rack for a cookie sheet I would use that. I can't wait to get one and try it out for even crispier baked wings!

Whole30 Day 9

So I had a tooth filling put in last Friday and even since have been in pain. It is also hard to eat so that is why these posts have been so flighty. But I'm trying to map out a tentative meal plan for a lazy Whole30 so I'm trying to get it written down before I forget. Once the tooth issue is resolved, I should be back to my sarcastic snarky self. :)

Breakfast-Orange, Coffee
Lunch- Leftover spaghetti and scrambled eggs
Dinner- Quiche with tons of onions, bell peppers, and spinach.

Oh and I'm out of eggs. We have to last the rest of the week without eggs. Should be interesting

Whole30 Day 8 and Our "Spaghetti"

So day 8 wasn't much calmer. It was full of Dr. appointments and a busy day at the office for Husband. I didn't manage to get anything on the table until 6:30p but it was a delicious easy meal.

Breakfast-Scrambled Eggs and tomatoes
Lunch- Egg Scramble with green peppers and green onions and tomatoes
Dinner: Rao's marinara with hamburger and sauteed onions and broccoli.

Our "Spaghetti"

Ingredients: Imported Italian tomatoes, imported olive oil, fresh onions, salt, fresh garlic, fresh basil, black pepper and oregano.

I took 2 lbs of hamburger and browned it, drained it and then dumped the sauce in. Cook over medium low until everything is warm. I usually roast some zucchini and yellow quash to pour it over. Or even a spaghetti squash every now and then even though Husband isn't a huge fan. But tonight I didn't have any of that and I was to tired to make a salad so we just had frozen broccoli. It wasn't perfect but it hit the spot.

Whole30 Week 1 recap

Way behind so I'm going to have to do some quick blogging before I forget. Things have been crazy around here!

Day 7 was crazy due to selling a home. I would usually stress eat but since nothing healthy sounded good I ate very little.

Breakfast-2 scrambled eggs
Lunch -Leftover steak
Dinner- Husband had a huge egg scramble with a green and red bell pepper and a couple green onions plus left over sweet potatoes on the side. I had a handful of pistachios and cashews plus a few bites of Husband's eggs.

We took some measurements this morning and both had lost a few inches. We feel better and are sleeping better. Husband has decided that it wasn't so bad and he wants to read "It Starts With Food" Progress! Oh and I tried on my bridesmaid's dress for MJ's wedding and it is now to big! I had to get it altered for length anyways so I'm excited it needs to be taken in at the top too. $$ out but ego boasted.

Whole30 Day 6 recap

This is going to be a really short post. It is all repeats because I was way to tired to cook after church.

Breakfast-Two Fried Eggs
Lunch-Scrambled Eggs with Green Peppers and Green Onions
Dinner- T-Bone Steak and Sweet Potatoes.

Enjoy a Grumpy Cat Meme 

Whole30 Day 5 recaps and Hamburger Wraps

Saturdays are always hard for food. There is a strong urge to kick back and get take out and enjoy some chocolate while watching a Saturday Night Flick. But tonight dinner was quick and easy and so worth it.

Breakfast- Eggs with green onion and green peppers
Lunch-Salad with left over chicken
Dinner- Hamburger Wraps

Leftover Chicken and a Green Salad with Sweet Onion Topping

Hamburger Wraps with Salsa and Sweet Onion Topping 

I am off to watch a classic! 

Multi-Vitamins and What Does a Plum Taste Like?

We went over to the Natural Grocers today to pick up a few things. It is always fun to look around and see what is marketed as a "healthy" food. Organic cookies anyone??

Anywho, we also needed to stock up on our Multi-Vitamins. We have been taking Vitamin Code vitamins for about 3 months now and it has been a positive experience. I picked these because of the probiotics in them for Husband. I also liked that there were no binders or filler. However you have to take 4 capsules a day and best taken 2 caps twice a day. It was a little much.

So today we picked up the same brand, just the one a day version. You are still getting quite a bit of vitamins just not in as high of a dose. I think our diet is pretty well rounded but after having 2 kids in 14 months I want to make sure my body is well replenished before baby #3! The box had a $5 off coupon so it was $19 for a 2.5 month supply.  I think that is worth it. Next time I may pick up the prenatal and see how they are. I have never taken a prenatal that didn't make me want to puke but then again I was always pregnant.

We also picked up some of Carlson's Fish Oil to combat some high cholesterol in Husband. I have taken these as well since we don't eat a lot of fatty fish (remember salmon is banned?). I do not have "sushi breath" afterwards, but Husband has said his burps taste like sushi. We could just eat Salmon.

After Natural Grocers we headed over to Sam's Club for our monthly round up. Stocked back up on some shrimp, cod and frozen veggies! We also picked up some plums since Husband said he wanted some fruit. I'm not a a huge plum person. The texture kinda kills it for me and I'm not a fan of anything with a large pit. So I casually asked him what a plum tastes like to him. He answers "Its like a soggy apple"

Whole30 Day 4 recap and Ribeye Steaks with Sweet Onion Topping

Day 4 was kinda crazy. I had to go to the dentist at 8am so my half of my mouth was numb until 11:30! I was so hungry I ate while numb and chewed up my lip and the food was not as good as it should have been. Overall it was a bummer of a day...until dinner.

I have been meaning to make mayo for a while and was craving some ranch dressing. I set my eggs out at noon so I could make mayo this afternoon for tonight's salad dressing. I ended up making a few mistakes and ended up short on light olive oil and went heavy handed on the lemon juice. I finished it off with coconut oil but there wasn't much I could do to fix the lemon juice error. There went my grand plan to have Whole30 Ranch. I was trying to figure out how to add sweetness to offset the lemon juice without sugar or sugar substitutes. I ended up with caramelized onions.

Sweet Onion Steak Topping

1 Yellow Onion Finely Diced and Caramelized in Coconut Oil

A Couple Spoonfuls of Homemade Mayo, just enough to coat

Add to taste Pepper, Garlic Powder, Dried Parsley and Onion Powder

The inspiration for this was herb butter that is served with steaks at restaurants with a combination of my usual sauteed onions topping. I usually buy cheap cuts of meat so the sauteed onions help add flavor and fat to my steaks. Tonight I had ribeyes that were on sale so I didn't really need anything to put on it. But I figured I would whip something up and use it as a dip for the fries or a veggie dip. It ended up being good enough to put on the steak and was a nice addition. If I were to make it a dip I would add more mayo but since my mayo was lemony I didn't want it to over power the onions. 

I paired the steak with some Sweet Potato Fries that I baked in the oven. Just slice into strips, sprinkle EVOO and some coarse Sea Salt and cook until tender. I like to do it for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees, but you can cook for a shorter period of time at 400 degrees. I tend to forget and burn mine so the 350 degrees is more forgiving. 

A little Friday Night Lights for your Friday night

I was so happy with the end result of this meal.  A couple days of successes in the kitchen has been quite invigorating!

Just 720 Hours...

A Whole30 only lasts 720 hours. Doesn't that sound better than 30 days? Maybe not but Husband pointed out you only have to be good for 480 hours since the rest of the time you are asleep.

A Sunset Good Enough for a Drink

Taken in The Land of Enchantment 

Whole30 Day 3 Recap and A Really Good Chicken Recipe

Well day 3 is over and no slips occurred  I know it isn't really that hard but I'm still proud. Especially since I'm the only one in the house doing Whole30. So give me a

Breakfast-Coffee, leftover quiche

Lunch- leftover quiche, La Croix

Dinner- Really Good Chicken, Sauteed Veggies, Tea

I made this chicken from a compilation of recipes and then just kinda winged it once in the kitchen. If you have been reading my recipes you know I'm not really specific. Just a pinch there and a sprinkle here. So I tried to write down everything I did, but it is important for you to taste each component before putting it all on the plate together. 

Really Good Chicken

Rub:

2 tsp. Paprika

2 tsp. Ground Coriander

1 Tbsp. Garlic Powder

1 tsp. Onion Powder

1 tsp. Cumin
1/2 tsp Ginger

Sprinkle of Cayenne Pepper to taste

Couple dashes of Allspice

The allspice was a last minute addition (hence missing from the picture) because I felt that it was missing a sweetness. Nutmeg or Cinnamon could have also worked. I usually go off smell for spices but I'm glad I tasted it and added the allspice. I am not a fan of Cumin but if you like it up it to 2 tsp. 

Start with a brine. When done brining, rinse the chicken and pat dry. Coat in melted coconut oil, rub the spice mix on both side and place in a greased baking dish. Cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until internal temp reaches 165 degrees. 

I sliced it before plating it. It was so tender and juicy. Just perfect! Since I wanted some extra fat to keep me full I added some EVOO Drizzle. 

Leftover Drizzle 

EVOO Drizzle

3/4 cup EVOO

1 tsp Crushed Garlic (or Powdered)

1/2 tsp Paprika

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1/2 tsp Black Pepper

Dried or Fresh Chopped Parsley 

Juice from One Lemon (optional)

Mix everything to taste in a mason jar. Drizzle over chicken. Great on veggies too. 

I felt like I had been chincy on my veggies recently so I made a big pan tonight. I sauteed some onions and then added in yellow squash, zucchini and asparagus. I cubed the squash and zucchini and cut the asparagus into 3 pieces to help the cooking process. It was the perfect blend of sweetness and "green veggie" taste.  

"Keep Calm and Whole30 On" right?

My New Nightly Hot Tea Habit

So don't laugh but up until recently I didn't know herbal tea didn't actually have tea in it. I just thought it had decaf tea. I'm not much of a tea drinker so this is a new area for me. Since starting the Whole30 I have tried to drink a cup after dinner to help make me feel satisfied as well as get in a little extra water.

I had the best tea at a friend house and when I went to the store they didn't have any! So I picked up another flavor and gave it a whirl. It was good but a 180 in flavors. I'd like to have both so I can enjoy both!

Ingredients: Cinnamon, roasted chicory, roasted carob, natural spice and vanilla flavors with other natural flavors, ginger, cardamom, black pepper, cloves and nutmeg.

This tea is very flavorful and has a great spice to it. It helped me feel full after dinner and since it was hot it was relaxing. When I finally find it I am going to blend it with some regular iced tea. I bet it will be a good summer drink!

Ingredients: Chamomile, hibiscus, peppermint leaves, rose blossoms, spearmint leaves, spice, orange blossoms

This tea was refreshing! The mint gave it a nice after dinner taste but wasn't overwhelming. It just hit you at the end. I had to let it seep for a while to get strong enough so make sure you start with really hot water so it isn't cold by the time you get to drink it.